Tied Cottage - the screenplay

Below, I have printed the first five pages from the screenplay version of "Tied Cottage" that had garnered much interest after being read, as a radio play, by The Script Reading Panel.

 Listeners have been intrigued by the story about Jack Maltravers, a famed author of esoteric novels, who disappears whilst staying at the Tied Cottage, of the title, with his wife, Melissa, during the early 1960s in the Forest of Dean. Jack is convinced an ancient parasite has control of his conscience as his perception of reality alters and is responsible for his madness, eventual disappearance, until his body is discovered in the foundations of the cottage nearly fifty years later. The screenplay offers a different perspective as it is seen from both Jack and Melissa's viewpoint. The catalyst this time is an ancient Celtic figurine that is discovered in the garden by their dog, Archie. The full screenplay will be published at a later date.

The extract was typed using Final Draft 13, but the formatting has not been retained. This will not distract from the story.

FADE IN:

EXT. ENGLISH CHANNEL. NIGHT - 6TH JUNE 1944

Night sky is filled with aeroplanes; the sea, in darkness, shows the multitudes of ships, troop carriers, destroyers that make their way towards the beaches.

INT. AEROPLANE. NIGHT - 1944

The jumping lights change colour as the 5th Airbourne Parachute Regiment prepare to jump.

As the men check their equipment, we see Jack Maltravers, (20s), nod to his friend opposite. The air is filled with tension as the first man jumps into the darkness. 

Each man has his own private thoughts. Maltravers, indifferent, yet perspiring, jumps from 800ft as

EXT. NORMANDY. NIGHT - 1944

Paratroopers collect their parachutes, forming groups, edging into the darkness of the surroundings as gunfire is heard as men fall to the ground.

In the b.g.,Maltravers lands and is quick on his feet. The Thompson machine gun he picks up as he falls as an explosion lands nearby. 

Fighting starts as Maltravers runs to join the others. He fires his machine gun as two German soldiers appear from the undergrowth. Another appears as Maltravers’s machine gun jams.

He throws it to the ground as the German hesitates as they struggle. Maltravers overpowers him, holding his hand over the German’s mouth, arching his back, and stabbing him in the heart with an upward thrust of his dagger. 

The German is dead as he falls to the ground. Maltravers sees others around him and runs to join them.

EXT. FOREST OF DEAN. COUNTRY LANE. DAY - 1963 The Austin A30 travels along the lane.

INT. CAR. DAY - 1963

Maltravers, (40s), seems preoccupied as he drives. Archie, the dog, a mongrel, is pretending to sleep on the back seat, but keeps one eye open as he hears their voices. Melissa, (40s), Maltravers’s wife, smiles, ruffling the dog’s coat to calm him down. Jack ignores her as she takes a drink of squash from the bottle she’s holding.

MELISSA

You’re going to have to control that temper of yours. 

JACK

He didn’t have a clue what he was talking about. I wouldn’t trust the French no further than I could throw them. They’ve always been a shower of shit!

MELISSA

You could have used a little tact!

JACK

He was another of these so called intellectuals who read books and know nothing about life. You see them everywhere. (A beat). I knew what I was speaking of. You know what happened to Natalie’s family when they escaped the Vichy French and came to Wales?

MELISSA

They were sent to Dachau.

JACK

She lost her parents, brothers, and sisters. The Vichy soon forgot when the war ended and they were fighting with the Marquis.

(A beat, laughs).

Everything was forgiven afterwards when De Gaulle entered Paris. Churchill never trusted him, as Roosevelt never accepted Churchill because he feared he was protecting British interests. If Roosevelt hadn’t placed so much trust in Stalin, there wouldn’t be this mess they find themselves in today.

(A beat)

(MORE)

JACK (CONT’D) We should have taken on the Russians afterwards.

Melissa stares in disbelief.

MELISSA

They lost thousands in the battle for Berlin. If you pursue an ideology, life means so little if people are prepared to die.

JACK

That should tell you something. Stalin murdered more people than Hitler ever did. 

MELISSA

I have never heard you speak like this before.

JACK

That fool angered me. History will mean nothing when there are apologists. Did he think we had any option but to fight? Christ, kids today know nothing. In his final year at Oxford, God help the children he teaches if anyone questions his orthodoxy. (He stares at his hands on the wheel, shaking). David has asked me what happened to me during the war. I will not speak of it.

MELISSA

He’s sensitive and understands.

JACK

I know. He gives me that look when I am mean. David and Lisa have had more than I ever did.

Melissa taps him playfully on the arm.

MELISSA

And me! My parents weren’t exactly rolling it. I had hand me down clothes.

JACK

I know. We’re nearly there after the traffic jam. You’re happy staying here for the next week or two until I finish the book?

MELISSA

You’ve never been as impulsive as this before. There’s something you’re not telling me.

A beat as he stares at her in the mirror.

JACK

This is going to be my last book. Tied Cottage. Thirty-five days to write it and I am through.

Melissa stares in shock as Jack speaks as he remembers the past.

SERIES OF SHOTS.

- Jack, (7), with his younger brother and sisters are in their mother’s bedroom as she lays dying. Wan, she tries to speak as they walk toward the bed. She holds out her hand, sighing, as Jack takes it gently -

- An ambulance outside the terraced house. Jack’s mother has died; she is being taken out by the ambulance men on the stretcher, body covered in blankets, as Jack watches from the bedroom window, tears running down his cheeks -

- Jack’s mother being buried. Only the vicar and gravedigger is present as the four other groundsmen lower the coffin into the grave -

- Jack, with his younger brother and sisters; a woman carrying a large case, are being helped into the black car. Jack, face angry, looks at the men who are locking the door of their home, walking away. One of the sisters cry; he holds her tightly as they sit in the back of the car. He takes one final look at their home before they are driven away -

- Grim Victorian building, an orphanage. The children are being helped out of the car, clinging to each other, frightened, as they stare at their dark surroundings. Jack is on the verge of tears as he takes hold of the younger girl’s hand as they are urged to walk toward the entrance where the Matron awaits them -

EXT. TIED COTTAGE. DAY. 

The cottage is in a picturesque location, with a stream running by the brook as the car makes its way slowly up the muddy track. Flowers thrive in the small beds; a lilac tree is in full blown as Archie barks, wide awake.

JACK

I’m sure Archie has got a sixth sense. He’s come to life at long last.

MELISSA

We shouldn’t allow him to go too far.

JACK

He won’t come to any harm. The running around will do him good. (A beat). The last time we stayed here I couldn’t find him for hours because he was exploring.

MELISSA

I do remember. He will have to slow down. He seems to think he’s still a pup.

(Archie barks; Jack laughs)

You two seem to be in this together.

JACK

Archie gave you his answer.

Jack stops the car and they get out. Archie runs off around the back of the cottage as soon as Jack opens the door.

JACK (CONT’D) What has been will be again.

MELISSA  Remembering your biblical teachings?

JACK

In a way, yes. I never forget anything I have read. It always comes in handy when I am depressed. (A beat). War makes people savages, then they try to forget afterwards.